Moving On
by Pharies
Summary: Hermione realizes that Ron is no longer in love with her. She ends up in Muggle London singing a song to let every thing go. No Ron bashing. T to be safe since there is alcohol involved.


_Disclaim Harry Potter Characters and Adele's One and Only. I highly suggest listening to it while reading this as it is not often that I am inspired purely by a song to write something, and then use the song in the story._

-_Hermione-_

She was swaying to some beat that was coming over the speakers. She closed her eyes; sipped her drink. She was in a muggle bar and she couldn't be happier in this moment. She could think of no other place to hide from just about everyone she knew than where she was standing right now in a cream dress and gold pumps. There was a pause in the music and she heard the DJ say the name she gave him. _Mia_. Opening her eyes, Hermione looked around her and then smiled sadly as she made her way up to the stage. She set her drink on a little table that was there, pulled the mic from the stand, and sat on the stool as the beginning chords floated around her.

"You've been on my mind. I grow fonder every day," she started as her eyes closed yet again. She let everything wash over her. "God only knows why it's taken me so long to let my doubts go."

She loved him so much, but could she stay with a man that couldn't seem to love her the same way? Could she stay _married_ to a man that once was all she could ever want? Once she had their children, he seemed to stop loving her. He changed and it was like he was a different man that _wouldn't let her love him_. Before Rose was born, they were each other's everything. And now? Now she was hiding from their world because she realized that she wasn't his anymore. That he didn't want her. That he had moved on, without realizing it, it seemed, instead of trying to work things out. _And she just couldn't understand why._

"I dare you to let me be your… your one and only. Promise I'm worthy…to hold in your arms. So come on and give me the chance…to prove that I'm the only one who can…walk that mile…until the end starts." She could hear her voice crack with the emotion that was coursing through her as she thought about all these things. She didn't care though as she opened her eyes and smiled sadly once more. "Lose yourself in time…at the mention of my name." She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath as her left hand began to tap out the rhythm on her thigh.

Hugo was a fluke. They hadn't been together in a long time. She couldn't even remember the last time they were together after Rose was born. Ginny had taken Rose and her children to the Burrow because she knew that Hermione needed a break. She planned a day with Ron and it was wonderful. For that day she felt like he was back. Back to being the man she fell in love with. Back to being the one person that really thought she was the world. That was the last time they were together though. Until she found out she was pregnant again, things seemed to be going back to normal, even if they weren't quite as wonderful as that day.

She knew though that she never fully gave him her heart. She loved him so much though that she didn't think it _mattered._ And until last night, it didn't. Last night ended her delusions. She knew she would never be his one and only ever again when she caught the way he looked at _her_. _Luna Lovegood, _or rather _Longbottom, _was sitting in their living room last night. Her husband wasn't in the room, so Ron didn't hide the look that crossed his face as Luna talked to him about something her father was going to publish in the next _Quibbler_. Hermione happened to catch the look as she came in from the kitchen to let everyone know that dinner was ready. When she saw the look on his face, she realized that her husband hadn't actually claimed her as his since Luna started helping George at the shop. It felt like she had actually been slapped when the realization hit her. That he had fallen out of love with her. That he was too afraid of her to really love her.

So once Ron went to bed, she gathered some of her things and left him a note before leaving as quietly as possible. She took refuge in little muggle bed and breakfast because she wouldn't dare go to her parents. She knew they would look for her there anyways.

Hermione's eyes opened once again as she looked into the crowd. No one knew her here. No one knew her name, that she was married, or that she had actually helped save the world. "I don't know why I'm scared, I've been here before. Every feeling, every word, I've imagined it all. You never know if you never try to forgive your past and simply be mine…" And then her eyes caught a man's in the crowd. She couldn't look away as she stared into his silver like eyes. She blinked and when she tried to find him again, she couldn't. She closed her eyes again and her hand still tapped out the beat with the song as she kept singing. When she finished, although she knew that her relationship with her husband was basically over, she felt that singing this song was for both of them for being cowards. She felt better as she stepped off the stage with her drink and went to bar to ask for water.

She felt people moving all around her and smiling at her, telling her she had done really well and things like that, but she didn't care. She didn't do it for them. She sang for her. She sighed and relaxed into the bar stool as she replenished her system. She felt someone next to her, but thought nothing of it since she was in a bar.

"Two shots of Jack and a scotch on the rocks," the person said and Hermione stiffened as she realized that she knew him. When the drinks were up he paid and then pushed one of the shots toward her. "You seem like you need it, Granger," he whispered. She nodded and picked up the small glass of amber liquid. "To moving on?" he questioned.

"To moving on," she affirmed before tapping her glass with his and downed the whisky as fast as possible. "Martini, extra dry, three olives," she told the bar tender before looking at the man next to her. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked, clearly confused as to why she would apologize to him of all people.

"Your wife. Didn't she pass last year?" Her drink was set in from of her, which she paid for quickly and then stood. "Let's go sit somewhere else, shall we?" He nodded and followed her away from the bar.

"Thank you, by the way," he said after they sat for a few minutes in silence.

"Of course, though I have a feeling that your son is taking it a little harder than you are, if I know you at all," she mused as she pulled the olives out of her drink and ate one.

"You would be correct in that assumption. My father arranged my marriage to Astoria long before he was in Azkaban." He paused and an odd expression took over his face, close to a smile in fact. "The first time." She chuckled and shook her head.

"Well, I do wonder if things would have been different back then if that hadn't been arranged…" she trailed off and took a deep breath. "I'm going to suggest to Ron that he and I get a divorce. I should have suggested it long ago when I felt like things weren't going to go back to normal." She sighed again and looked up at her companion. "I haven't given him my whole heart, and I don't think I ever could, Draco," she said quietly.

"And why do you think that, pet?" he asked, seeming to pick up where they left off years ago.

"Because of you, you dolt," she huffed before she ate another olive. They were silent again for several minutes before Hermione got the courage to speak again, though she wasn't looking at him this time. "I don't regret that time, you know. Ron and Harry decided to go straight into training and I just didn't know where I was going yet since I hadn't actually finished school. Then there was the fact that although Ron and I could have technically been together, we couldn't actually be together. And then you happened…" She trailed off as she twirled the stem of her glass. She didn't look up at him as he started talking.

"And then I turned eighteen, and once school was over, I had to fulfill my place as Head of Malfoy Manor and marry Astoria." He sipped his scotch and placed his hand over hers. "I didn't want to have to do that, you know." Hermione was quiet for several minutes. She had to take several breaths to stop everything she felt then from taking over.

"I knew that, but that didn't make me hate you any less." She pulled her hand from under his. "You knew you were betrothed, but you didn't tell me, and I hated you for years for it. Though," she paused, a funny smile taking over her face, "you wouldn't know it by the fact that I threw myself into a relationship with Ron six months after the fact. Everyone thought I was happy, even myself." She ate another olive and looked at him. "Up until I saw you tonight in the crowd, I thought I was happy with my life, even if it was falling apart. What I really realized was that, even though Ron had fallen out of love with me, I had never fully given him my heart and I should have come to you last year after she passed. I just told myself that you were fine without me, and that I would be fine without you." She downed the rest of her martini and took a steadying breath.

"You do realize, Granger, that I was waiting for you to come to me. I couldn't come to you and make you step outside your marriage." She laughed slightly at the thought.

"Then, Malfoy, we start over. Even though I'm out a drink, we can toast to a new beginning for us." He took a sip of his whiskey and then offered her his. "No, I think I've had enough tonight."

"Very well," he agreed. "Dinner tomorrow then?" He caught her gaze and held it until she responded.

"I would love to. I'll owl you." She smiled and slipped out of the chair she had been occupying.

No, Ron had not been her one and only, but she realized that maybe there was a chance she had known that all along.

-_End-_

I know that this might not be what I usually do. Or maybe it is, I'm not really sure since I'm not stuck in one particular ship. I hope you enjoyed this. It took me a lot longer than I was anticipating it to take to write. I wasn't sure if I wanted to make it a multi-chapter or not. For now, it's not. I might do another one shot with Hermione figuring things out with her divorce and such, but I'm not sure yet. It depends on what comes to me.

~Tori


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